Looking at social media and the left (and even some parts of the right) blogosphere, you’d think Tronald Dump’s candidacy went up in flames last night. And in any sane democracy, it should have. After all in 90 minutes we learned that the Republican nominee:
- Does not pay income tax, and thinks this is a “smart” thing to do
- Both denies global warming and denies that he denies said warming
- Is happy to punch down on women, people who weigh over 115 pounds, and people of color
- Is apparently a coke fiend
- Cannot put a complete sentence together
- Doesn’t know when ISIS was founded, or why
And so, so much more.
And yet, even though the general consensus in the media is that this was a huge win for HRC, I will be surprised indeed (pleasantly, of course) if we see much movement in the polls. If you can stand it, read this article in the New York Post: How Trump won over undecideds and independents. Yes, NYP is a Murdock-owned rag with an obvious right wing agenda. And yet, I think, there is a ring of truth to it as far as capturing the sentiment among Trump supporters:
Reed, 35, is a registered Democrat and small businessman. “By the end of the debate, Clinton never said a thing to persuade me that she had anything to offer me or my family or my community,” he said, sitting at the same bar that has boasted local icons as regulars, such as the late Fred Rogers, and Arnold Palmer, who had his own stash of PM Whiskey hidden behind newer bottles of whiskey for his regular visits.
“Have to say Trump had the edge this evening, he came out swinging but also talked about specifics on jobs and the economy,” Reed said.
I quote this, not because I think it’s remotely correct (“specifics”? srsly??), but because I think it points to how Trumpians and their fellow travelers are going to cope with their increasingly erratic candidate: they are simply going to ignore it and continue to pretend the one with the glaring flaws is Clinton. Like their candidate, they live for the most part in a political reality of their own making, that is only tangentially related to the one the rest of us inhabit.
My point is that a large segment of the American population have become immune to fact, immune to reason, immune to history. They have drunk the nepenthe of Trump and their minds have been wiped clean of all negative impressions of the Great Cheeto. Future sociologists will likely have a lot to say about why this is the case, but for our present situation it is more important just to recognize that for a certain segment of reliable voters, the essence of democracy that is rational discussion, debate, and policymaking, no longer matters. Maybe it never did. What matters to these voters is the comforting appearance of a white guy wielding the awesome powers of the Presidency.
Now, this is not a gloom and doom diary. Honestly. I still believe that HRC will win, and that there is a slightly larger coalition of voters who actually care if our nation elevates a narcissistic, coke sniffing, misogynist, racist bully to the highest office in the land. And, one can hope last night’s performance encourages some people who were going to sit the election out to support Clinton. But those folks won’t make it past the likely voter screen; so while they may affect the ultimate outcome of the race they won’t affect the polls.
No matter what, I think, it’s going to be an agonizingly, unfairly close contest. There seems to be something deeply wrong with our country’s soul, and I don’t know what will fix it.
BTW: nothing would make me happier than to be completely wrong about this.
We must never give up. Just, try not to get discouraged if the race remains close. Vote, donate time or money if you can.